Mother’s Day Week.  Day 3.  So I written so far about a mother in my youth group and a woman who married into my family.  Today?  A chaplain who also happens to be an Astros fan.

Glenda McDonald is one of the coolest people I know.  She is a chaplain for Children’s Hospital Memorial Hermann.  She is a fantastic chaplain not because she is super theological or super deep or superhuman (although she does lean that way sometimes).  She is normal, down to earth, approachable, life loving, adventurous and really super good with kids.  Glenda is extremely playful and even when she is in leadership positions, she reflects a comfort and laid back approach that is very comforting.

I say these things because it was with her that I started my residency (way) back in 2010 at Children’s Memorial Hermann, and she was my mentor.  With her example, I saw that it was okay for a chaplain to be playful, laid back, and fairly normal.  With her I saw that it was okay to laugh in the midst of harsh realities in the hospital.  It was okay to be the adventurous, outgoing, extrovert that loves going to baseball games and doesn’t always need to be the typical chaplain: very introverted and quiet, contemplative, highly theological in conversation.  No, instead, Glenda affirmed that I could talk Astros baseball to a kid, that I could think going to meetings was not always awesome, that chaplaincy could be simple in that it is about being a presence, and that it was okay to really dive into relationships and life with a zeal for people.

Essentially then, she showed me that it was okay to be me.  And I cannot tell you how much she said, “Just be you.”  She said it when I started the residency.  She said it during the residency.  She said before mid year consultations.  She said it before I interviewed at Texas Children’s.  She said it when I started in the wake of a really good chaplain at Texas Children’s.  Just be me.  She was like me in so many ways that her career and life as chaplain became a model of my own, a life lived out the joy and contentness for my own character and personality.  And she is a big baseball fan.  Loves baseball and the Astros.  How could I go wrong with that!

Obviously you can tell she had quite an impact on me, and I owe her much gratitude and joy because I am where I am because she showed me that it was okay that I am who I am.  Just be me.  Thanks Glenda!